Yesterday we had a special Relief Society program during church. The focus was on visiting teaching, and they served a lovely light breakfast.
Let me first say that many people were touched, some were moved, and I heard several people say they felt inspired of the importance of visiting teaching, and that they would better serve in the future.
The basic set up as we walked in consisted of a projector screen in the middle of the room, with two small tables on either side. At each table was a lamp and a journal and a sister seated. The lights went off and a picture was put up on the screen of the two sisters dressed in white. One lamp turned on, and they pressed play on a tape recorder. "Elizabeth Long, Journal Entry 1, Pre-existence" and the voiceover continued explaining things that were happening, how she felt about the war in heaven, and far too many points of dubious doctrine for my liking.
The entire program went through as these two sisters came to earth, one was strong in the gospel and the other was inactive, and through visiting teaching these two sisters found each other as friends once more and because of the impact of Sarah, Elizabeth was "instead of a mother of generations of apostates, the mother of generations of faithful latter-day saints."
The obvious message is that one sister can make more difference than we ever realize through befriending another sister and being good visiting teachers. The message is a good one, and I am certain that many hours of thought, prayer, and preparation went into the program.
Just not my cup of tea. I would appreciate it if our church leaders were sometimes a little more careful in the speculation they allow or encourage during Sunday meetings.
But I was inspired to be a better visiting teacher. Now I just need to know if the Lord wants me here long enough for my mother (who is the VT Coordinator) to assign me a route. That's one of the hardest parts about not knowing when Josh will be home. I feel like I don't really belong to a ward right now, thought I have strong ties to two wards. I want a calling. I like visiting teaching. I enjoy performing in Sacrament meeting.
A future full of unknowns is hard, plain and simple. I'm grateful for the Lord's support and the many angels who are helping through this difficult time. But I miss my husband.
4 comments:
I think it sounds interesting though. A nice visual for people who don't understand the abstract that well... but it def is important that people understand that it's still not all doctrinal.
I'm sorry about Josh and everything. I hope everything is resolved soon!!!
He he...mostly inspirational/harmless (a la "my turn on earth"/"saturday's warrior"/the little drummer boy), but yeah...unusual for relief society. Hope you guys are back soon, or that you're at least out of limbo. Good luck!
I'm too cynical. "Mother of generations of apostates". Sheesh.
Come on Emily--don't you know that those types of things are SO doctrine--hehe :)
I appreciate the time and effort that goes into those big presentation things, but sometimes I think it's a little heavy on the
"presentation" and not on the actual doctrine (if that's the goal of the meeting--sometimes I guess there are different goals the ward is trying to meet).
And I think I can be a better visiting teacher. I love visiting with people, but having to mix and match schedules is tough for me right now.
And...sorry this is such a long comment--but I hope you are soon "out of limbo" and know what's happening--cause we miss you!
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